


Garak Jr.

by agatharights



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Cute, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-08
Updated: 2014-07-08
Packaged: 2018-02-08 00:35:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1920036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agatharights/pseuds/agatharights
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Julian gets a pet! Wrote this short ficlet on tumblr because I had overloaded on sad headcanons and wanted something sweet and fluffy, and now it's cross-posted here.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Garak Jr.

Julian peered into the terrarium and squinted, trying to angle himself to see under a flat rock, then behind some small scrublike plants in the sand. The thrilling life of a frontier doctor, he thought, sometimes doesn’t involve very much medical expertise. But he was the closest thing the station had to a veterinarian in any respect, so it had fallen to him…

"Well, Doctor?" Odo gruffed behind him, standing amidst several stacks of cages and terrariums and a few aquariums, lining the loading dock.

This was, as many things were, entirely Quark’s fault. The Ferengi was huffing and pacing irritably nearby, waiting for the quarantine to be cleared- after all, if there was something someone with a holosuite knew- people wanted companionship, especially on the emptiness of a space station, even one as lively as Deep Space 9. Importing a handful of pets to sell, for those who wanted a little company without having to resort to holoprograms or, heaven forbid, actually making acquaintances? It had been an easy choice, at the price they’d come at.

"I can’t see what’s in this one." Julian muttered, going to the other side of it and looking again. Inside of the terrarium a heat lamp shone on the sand and a small thermometer told him that it was sweltering inside the little climate-controlled box. "Quark? May I see the shipment list again?"

The Ferengi grumbled as he handed over the PADD. “Hurry it up, Doctor…I’ve got people waiting to give these creatures good homes!” Odo snorted at the very thought.

"If these animals don’t clear customs rules, they won’t be finding any good home save for back where they came from." He growled. "You’re already treading on thin ice, Quark. Transportation of non-native species without a license…"

"We’re on a space station, Odo. There _are_ no native species here, and I’m sure that Bajoran law can see it that way.”

Julian just mouthed to himself as he read down the shipping manifest again, checking off all the animals he’d already looked over. A Terran cat (siamese, very vocal and very affectionate), an aggressive little teacup targ (the small piglike creature had ferociously attempted to get his hand with it’s little tusks, but his reflexes had won out in the end), several fish in tanks from various worlds, Vulcan songbirds, even a Bajoran cat that he’s initially mistaken for an Ocelot, with it’s lean build and spots. This would have to be the last one…ah! There it was.

_**DESERT REGNAR (WESTERN SUBSPECIES), planet of origin: CARDASSIA** _

Sadly, the only information the manifest had on this particular creature was a list of requirements (which all seemed to be met, in the large terrarium) and that it was classified as a  “small reptilian life-form, lizard class”. He squinted at the sand again. Had it escaped, somehow? During transit or into the docking bay? The Terrarium looked secure, specially made to be climate-controlled inside…

"Quark, do you know anything about _this_?”

"Don’t look at me! I simply bought them all, I can’t be expected to have researched every single animal beforehand."

"Quark, if one of these animals got loose, don’t think I won’t find a way to charge you for introduction of an invasive species-" Odo warned, and the Ferengi and Changeling set to bickering between themselves.

The doctor sighed and absently tapped on the side of the terrarium, thinking, and then freezing as movement caught it eye. What he’d taken for a small collection of pebbles and a pile of sand shifted, and subtly altered it’s color. Upon a closer look, he could barely make out the shape of the creature, spectacularly camouflaged, matching the very texture and color of it’s surroundings.

"…Oh." He smiled, then, and watched as a shape that might have been a lizard moved barely an inch, before going still and utterly indistinguishable from the sand and pebbles again. "I found it, Odo. It’s just a very adaptive little thing, isn’t it?"

In the end, everything was parasite free and quarantine could be broken, much to Odo’s disappointment, and Quark’s delight when Julian wound up making the first purchase of all the creatures, walking from the docking bay carrying the heavy terrarium, wondering just where in his quarters he could put his new pet.

~

A Regnar, it was called, a Desert Regnar. After some trial and error, Julian found that by moving quickly and without warning, he could pick the little creature up into his hands, finding it to be surprisingly familiar in appearance and form. If he had to make a comparison, he would’ve said it reminded him of some terran lizards, small and wide, roundish and flattish in form with a wedge-shaped head and a short, fat tail. Almost like a horned lizard he’d seen, in a herpetology exhibit.

Of course, the similarity ended there when he watched as the creature’s skin went from rough to smooth as his skin, matching the texture, and it faded to match his hands through rippling bands of color that swept over it’s skin. Now that, that reminded him of a cuttlefish, or and octopus, changing color and texture to match it’s surroundings, staying so absolutely still he couldn’t even feel it breathing.

It didn’t even have fully-functioning eyes, he found out after a quick series of scans before he placed it back in it’s hot little piece of desert, and watched as it made it’s way to the roots of a plant within’- something called an Indigo Sunsearcher -and disappeared into it’s surroundings. He’d have to ask Keiko about anything the plant needed.

Cardassians, though…always so secretive about every last bit of their homeworld, from their biology to the flora and fauna that populated it alongside them. He couldn’t find a damn thing about Regnars beyond what he’d already known, but then…at least he knew someone he could ask.

~

Garak frowned as he looked into the terrarium, then looked back to Julian, and back again to the sand and pebbles and oh, it made something in his chest- his hear, even -ache just seeing such a familiar sight. “…A regnar?”

"Yes! Quark sold it to me."

He sighed, long and deep, and took a look at it’s little habitat. “It’s…not a bad habitat, at all. Enough space for her.”

"Her?"

"The females are larger, like she is." Garak pointed out, and Julian watched, closely, at the softness of Garak’s expression as he reached into the terrarium and with effortlessly steady, slow movements, he reached down and gently stroked the lizard’s back, before he closed the top of the terrarium again. "I’m surprised- it’s difficult to find regnars, much less capture them. They’re very…"

"Sneaky, I’d say." Julian chuckled, and went to looking into the terrarium. "Do you know much about them?"

"I certainly know enough. I…used to have a pet regnar, myself." Garak hastily judged how much truth was enough, and carefully dispensed it. "They’re usually colony creatures, they live in family groups."

"Oh…will she get lonely?"

"No, they live together more out of necessity- they have a relationship with the sunsearcher. They’re not social animals, however." Garak squinted. "She should be able to eat a variety of things. They get all the moisture they need from the sunsearcher’s roots."

"The information I found suggested I replicate some grubs or crickets for her."

"Crickets?"

"A type of earth insect."

"Ah."

There was a strange quiet, and Julian suddenly felt as if he were intruding, watching Garak as Garak watched the regnar, looking startlingly nostalgic and quiet, his mouth in a small frown instead of his usual defensive grin, his eyes half-lidded instead of open wide and bright.

The regnar wasn’t that different from Garak, was it? They were adaptive, alone, displaced from their native habitats…and very good at blending in. Julian could even see a bit of similarity from the Regnar’s roundish build to Garak’s solid figure.

"…Garak Jr."

"What?" Garak’s head jerked up as Julian spoke.

"I think I’m going to name her Garak Jr!" Julian grinned, wide. "She reminds me of you."

Garak gave him a positively withering glare, but Julian ignored it in favor of grinning. If he didn’t know better, he could’ve sworn the lizard was glaring too, it’s head subtly raised and unfocused eyes towards him.

"…My dear doctor…" Garak sighed. " _Please_ don’t."

"Too late."


End file.
